The document provides context about Edith Wharton's short story "Roman Fever" and Henry James' story "Daisy Miller". It discusses how both stories use the concept of "Roman Fever" as a plot device to threaten or punish characters deemed unworthy. It then examines what Roman Fever actually was versus how authors portrayed it. The piece also compares how Wharton and James dealt with the subject of malaria in their works and how knowledge of the disease could be used as a writing tool.

1. Essay On Roman Fever
Roman Fever is not only the title of a story by Edith Wharton, it is also a key to the plot in Daisy Miller: A Study by Henry James. In both stories
the prevailing rumors of an illness that could be obtained by visiting a location after dark is used as a tool. Charles Darwin is world renowned for his
views on evolution that eventually made its way into the thought process of many writers. The goal of using Roman Fever can be seen as giving the
writer a threat to use as punitive measures to weed out those deemed unworthy.
In order to evaluate the argument of Roman Fever being used against the characters in these stories we need to examine Roman Fever. What it is
versus what it is purported as being by the authors. Roman Fever is the nickname...show more content...
The piece uses the illness as a tale told to young ladies as a retribution attempt for being scorned. In it we find that Mrs. Slade had a Great–Aunt
Harriet that used knowledge of the illness to lure her younger sister to death. In this story the causality of the illness is also related to time of evening
and hints of the cold night air being a factor. We now know that the cold night air would not be a risk factor in contactingMalaria.
Similarities arise in the way both authors deal with the subject of Malaria. In both the subject is challenged with the conundrum of being fit enough to
survive a bout of illness as intimidating as Roman Fever. One could extrapolate the illness as an instrument of nature used to weed out the week.
Knowledge of an illness that is well known for its relative ease of contagion and high mortality rate can be a useful tool to a writer.
We find that Daisy is at the Colosseum with the suitor, she is at odds with the protagonist at this point. She does not survive her interaction with
Roman Fever and succumbs to a high grade fever that is credited with causing deliria. She is described as a bit of a flirt and unconventional by the
standards of the time. It can be argued that her indiscretion and moral failings is painted as weakness. Her weakness could then be attributed to her
inability to survive the
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2. Roman Fever Essay
In the short story "Roman Fever" the author Edith Wharton uses different forms of symbolism to represent conflicts in the main characters lives.
There are two main characters: Alida Slade and Grace Ansley. The setting of the story takes place in a Roman Restaurant with a balcony showing
views of the Forum, the Colosseum and other places that they had visited years ago. Though the narrator of the story speaks of a place in Rome that
connected with events that happened years in New York City. One of the main themes in this story was negative feelings between these women.
Meaning that love, fear and jealousy corrupted their friendship and destroyed it forever. Alida said thinks that she is better than Grace because she
married Delphin, but Grace...show more content...
Grace had been holding a secret for years and years from Alida that involved her husband, Delphin. Alida did not know that Grace wrote back to
Delphin with which he responded that he would be at the Colessium waiting for her the next night. The big picture that Alida didn't know is that she
was so jealous of Grace's daugther Barbara because she did not know that there was a missing piece in Barbara's life. Grace's husband Horace was not
the father of their daughter, Delphin was. Grace got married very quickly to her husband Horace so no one ever knew that Delphin was truthfully the
father of
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3. Essay on Roman Fever
Roman Fever Roman Fever" is an outstanding example of Edith Wharton's theme to express the subtle nuances of formal upper class society that cause
change underneath the pretense of stability. Wharton studied what actually made their common society tick, paying attention to unspoken signals, the
histories of relationships, and seemingly coincidental parallels. All of these factors contribute to the strength and validity of the story of Mrs. Slade
and Mrs. Ansley. "Roman Fever" at first strikes the reader as the simple, rather dull story of two middle aged women sitting on a veranda. The
inactiveness of the situation appears to be evident in Mrs. Slade's comment, "Well, I don't see why we shouldn't just stay here", reflecting...show more
content...
The reader might consider how it seems that the mothers and daughters were mismatched, a concept that is clever foreshadowing by the author, hinting
at the scandal and instability lurking underneath the facade of morality and perfection worn by Slade's and Ansley's upper class society. By noting the
subtitles of human conditions under the stress of strict societal control, Edith Wharton created literature that is true to the society she portrayed. Mrs.
Slade and Mrs. Ansley probably would have liked to cause each other bodily harm, yet their society ruled that such behavior would not be tolerated.
Therefore, they buried their feelings and expressed them only in subtle movements and off the cuff remarks, bits and pieces of communication that
most people would overlook. However, Wharton realized that these fragments composed the only true communication and therefore composed the real
story of Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley. Wharton takes the much–admired upper crust of society and exposes them, not in a hurtful world, but an
objectively world. Wharton writes: "I've come to the conclusion that I don't in the least know what they are," said Mrs. Ansley. "And perhaps we didn't
know much more about each other."(780) This one passage serves as a direct commentary on both the bonds of friendship and family life. Wharton's
language is objective, straightforward. The character speaks these alarming
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4. Roman Fever Analysis
In Edith Wharton's short story, "Roman Fever," Grace Ansley and Alida Slade uncover the deception involved in a past romantic rivalry; their
confessed secrets alter their perceptions of each other, as well as how they view their own lives. The relationship of these two women is formed
through their similarities, although those similarities do not prevent issues between them. However, the depth of their struggle is not established by
interactions between the Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley, but rather by their relations with others. Folding two stories into the narrative of "Roman
Fever," Wharton explores the power dynamics and other complexities of female relationships, which are thoroughly exposed through the outside
relationships of Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley. The societal role shared by Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade links their lives together, which sets up and
establishes the nature of their interactions. As Rachel Bowlby observes in her article "'I Had Barbara': Women's Ties and Wharton's 'Roman Fever,'"
they have "both lived the conventional feminine lives of girl, wife, mother, and widow" and "their identities have been primarily in relation to [their]
husbands" (42). For example, Wharton emphasized how much of Mrs. Slade's life revolved around her husband, explaining that "[i]n living up to
such a husband all her faculties had been engaged" (Wharton 914). Mrs. Ansley was married quickly and Mrs. Slade assumes that she wanted to "get
ahead of Delphin
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5. Roman Fever Symbolism
Edith Wharton, writer of the short story "Roman Fever" uses a variety of themes that reoccur in many of her other works: hypocrisy, evolution, and
New York City. "Roman Fever" tells a tale of love and betrayal as two women fight for the love and affection of the same man. The two women go to
rather extreme lengths to sabotage the other in the battle for the man's heart. After all, all is fair in love and war. Wharton utilizes imagery, symbolism,
and irony to drag the reader into her story captivating them until the very end.
Wharton uses imagery to capture the reader's attention and pull them into the story from the very beginning to the gripping ending. For example,
Wharton describes two American ladies having lunch in a Roman restaurant, "From the table at which they had been lunching two American ladies of
ripe but well–cared–for middle age moved across the lofty terrace of the Roman restaurant and, leaning on its parapet, looked first at each other, and
then down on the outspread glories of the Palatine and the Forum, with the same expression of vague but benevolent approval" (Wharton). Grace
and Alida, the two ladies detailed in the restaurant, appear to be not just on a vacation but somewhere they've been plenty of times. The two are
looking around at the sights and the place they love approving despite they're wretched past adventures. However, while looking around their gaze
was set on one place in particular that had forever changed their lives, "Her gaze turned toward the Colosseum. Already, its golden flank was drowned
in purple shadow, and above it the sky curved crystal clear without light or color. It was the moment when afternoon and evening hang balanced in
mid–heaven" (Wharton). As the day faded into the night there was a glow casted over the Colosseum. The same Colosseum that had inspired so
much destruction between the two women. But on the other hand, no place is complete without the ringing of bells, "Suddenly the air was full of that
deep clangor of bells which periodically covers Rome with a roof of silver" (Wharton). Though brief the bells would ring covering all of Rome with its
resonances. Temporarily were the women distracted from their reminiscing as the bells chimed. The diction
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6. Roman Fever Analysis
Edith Wharton's Roman Fever appears to suggest that friendship built on a lie would be destroyed because it is built on a bad foundation. In the story
it shows that social status and jealousy are important. Roman Fever last sentence shows that with jealously and a bad friendship can cause problems
later in life. The term jealousy shows up among the protagonist character, Grace Ansley, who is against Alida Slade. They are two middle aged women
visiting their daughters in Rome. Alida and Delphin's daughter is named Jenny Slade; Grace's daughter is named Barbara. Alida is of a high social
status and Ansley is not. They were old friends and haven't seen each other for a while. Ansley had a relationship with Slade's husband Delphin
before they were married. At the end of the story it is revealed that Ansley and Delphin actually had a child, "I had Barbara"(1213). Slade really
does not like Ansley because she found out about her relationship with Delphin. She decides to write a note signed as Delphin to Ansley so they can
meet at the Rome Coliseum. Ansley remembers that because that's the only letter he wrote to her. When Slade tells Ansley that she wrote the letter
Ansley was shocked, "And I wrote it. Yes; I wrote it! But I was the girl he was engaged to. Did you happen to remember that"(1211). Towards the end
of the story it was revealed that Delphin and Ansley actually when to the Coliseum and had an affair, so Slade really made the affair happen.
Slade and Ansely are on a
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7. Roman Fever Essay
The 19th century was an age where the impact of the industrial revolution caused a sharp difference between the gender roles, especially of the upper
and middle classes. Men and women were thought to have completely different natures. Men were thought to have a character suited to the public
world, while women to a much more private one. During this time men and women were thought of to be complete opposites of each other and have
very different roles. Women were thought to be more, weak, and passive and timid, where a male was more likely to be powerful, active and brave.
During this time families did not believe that women needed to be educated. Instead they felt that education should be acquired only for womanly
purposes, such as fulfilling...show more content...
She also lets the readers know what the characters are thinking and their thoughts. The mood at the beginning of the story is light, but as more
events from the past of Mrs. Ansleys and Mrs.Slades lives are revealed, the mood of the story darkens and changes. Wharton, does a nice job
describing, the thoughts inside these women's heads. We are able to see that the feelings they have for each other is not friendship. In fact, Mrs.
Slade and Mrs. Ansley seem to barely like each other. Where as if a male had written this, he probably would not have gone to much into depth with
the description of these to women. Wharton understood that friendships between women of this century had a very high competition. If a male had
written it or if the two main characters were men, I don't know if the conversation would have remained the same. Usually when men engage in a
conversation that involves intimacy like Mrs.Slade and Mrs.Ansley did, men tend to keep those personal emotions to themselves. If asked such a
question they would probably choose not to discuss it. Men will simply say it straightforward that they would rather not talk about it or simply just
ignore the situation. They do not try to confuse one another or mislead each other as the two women in Roman Fever do. They battle each other in
their feminine ways, with their words. The story had an ending with twists and turns that you would never
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